The Department of Justice, with the assistance of the FBI, is investigating the now-defunct Burlington College, confirmed board of trustees president Yves Bradley on Tuesday.
Former Burlington College employee Coralee Holm told news organization VTDigger.org that the FBI has opened an investigation into a land deal orchestrated in 2010 while the college was under the leadership of Jane O’Meara Sanders, wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Holm, who served as the Dean of Operations and Advancement for the now-defunct college, told VTDigger.org she was cooperating with a subpoena from the FBI, and that she provided the FBI with email communications from Sanders from the time period when the college was considering purchasing the North Avenue campus. Holm, who now works as a public information officer in South Burlington, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Burlington Free Press.
This sign formerly marked the Burlington College campus on North Avenue in Burlington. (Photo: FREE PRESS FILE)
VTDigger.org was first to report the existence of the federal investigation.
A spokesman for O’Meara Sanders said the former college president has not been contacted by the FBI.
A spokesperson for the FBI’s field office in Albany, New York, said per policy, she could not comment on whether an investigation exists. She also declined to give her name, also citing policy. Kraig LaPorte, a spokesman for the Vermont U.S. Attorney’s Office, also declined to comment Tuesday.
Bradley, the trustee, said he had first known about the investigation about 15 months ago, before the closure of the college. He said Holm had alerted him and other board members of the investigation. Bradley said from his understanding, an FBI agent was the first to contact the college.
Bradley said he ran into a fellow board member, Sarah Adsit-McCuin, several weeks ago who he said told him that she had been interviewed by the FBI. Bradley estimated the FBI interview had taken place several weeks before their run-in.
Adsit-McCuin declined an interview with the Burlington Free Press. Bradley, who began serving on the board in the late fall of 2013, said he has not been contacted by the FBI.
Fellow board member Tom Torti said that an investigation had been rumored, but he had not been contacted by the FBI and has no direct knowledge of the investigation. Torti has served on the board on and off since late 2012 or early 2013, he said.
Though Bradley said he did not know the focus of the investigation, he said he presumed it had to do with the college’s acquisition of the land from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.
Burlington College announced in May 2016 that it would close at the end of the month due to the “crushing weight of debt,” officials said at the time. The college blamed debt from the land deal as a primary reason for the school’s closure.
Jane O’Meara Sanders served as president of Burlington College from 2004 to 2011. (Photo: AP FILE)
In January 2016, Vermont Republican Party vice-chairman Brady Toensing had sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. asking that federal investigators look into the 2010 financial deal involving O’Meara Sanders and Burlington College. Bradley said he believes Toensing’s letter was the catalyst for the investigation.
Toensing on Tuesday said he had no way of knowing what began the investigation.
“All I hope for is a fair and impartial investigation,” Toensing said. He added, “In our system, nobody, no matter how powerful or politically connected they are should be above the law.”
Jeff Weaver, the former campaign manager for the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, sent an emailed statement to the Burlington Free Press on behalf of O’Meara Sanders in response to requests for comment directed to her.
Burlington College students, alumni, staff members and supporters gathered for a march and mock funeral for the school on Friday, May 20, 2016. (Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS FILE)
“In the middle of Bernie’s presidential campaign, the vice-chair of the Vermont Republican Party asked for a federal investigation of Burlington College,” Weaver wrote, referring to Toensing’s letter. “Jane has not been contacted by the FBI or any other authority and only knows as much as news reports indicate. Jane served as president of the college from 2004 to 2011. In the five years following her departure, the college experienced major turnovers in leadership, staff and its Board of Trustees.”
Attempts to reach final president of the college Carol Moore were unsuccessful.
Bradley said he hopes the investigation will not tarnish the memory of Burlington College.
“A lot of people worked really hard to make this thing not only what it was, but to save it,” Bradley said. “It’s already gone down in a really difficult way, and the less that can be added to that, in my humble opinion, the better. I’d rather people think, ‘What a loss,’ than, ‘Well, it’s a good thing they’re gone.'”
Contact Elizabeth Murray at 651-4835 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizMurrayBFP.
